A former MAC Defensive Player of the Year as a Defensive Lineman at Kent State, Roosevelt Nix converted to Fullback in hopes for a chance in the National Football League.  It worked, but it took a while.

Nix was not invited to the Combine, but was invited to the Atlanta Falcons in 2014 after going undrafted.  He didn’t make the team, but the Steelers gave him a look the following year, and Nix would have a five-year career in Pittsburgh, where he played 60 Games, and was a pure Fullback, one of the few in the NFL.  

Nix will never be considered for the Hall of Fame, but the fact that he made it to the NFL for five years based on revising his skillset is worth celebrating.

Demaryius Thomas was a 2010 1^st Round Pick who struggled as a rookie and in his second pro season due to injuries, but he was healthy in his third year where he showed off over the next five years what was expected of him.  Thomas went to the Pro Bowl in 2012 with a 1,434 Years and 10 Touchdown season, and in 2013 he had similar yardage (1,430) with a career-high 14 Touchdowns.  It was another Pro Bowl year, and he would set a then record 13 Receptions in their Super Bowl loss to the Seattle Seahawks.  

2014 would see him go to his third Pro Bowl with career highs of 111 Receptions and 1,619 Receiving Yards, but it was 2015, a season where he was not chosen for the Pro Bowl (but still hit 1,304 Receiving Yards) where he won the Super Bowl.  Thomas had his last Pro Bowl in 2016 with his final four digit Receiving Yard campaign.  Before he was traded to the Houston Texans midway through the 2018 season, he finished his career at Mile High with 9,055 Yards for 60 TDs.

2021-22 Pre-Season Rank: #42, 2022-23 Pre-Season Rank: #27, 2023-24 Pre-Season Rank: #14.

*Peak Period: 2018-19 to 2023-24.  Doncic has only played six seasons and is still in his peak period.

Luka Doncic was the 2019 NBA Rookie of the Year, and since then, he has embarked on a five-year run during which he has been an All-Star, a top-ten MVP finisher, and a First-Team All-NBA Selection. Last season, the Slovenian superstar won his first Scoring Title (33.9) and brought the Mavericks to a surprising NBA Final, his second.

Doncic continues to improve and looks like a future MVP.  Can he also be a future NBA Champion?  2025 could bring both.

Playing his college ball at South Dakota State, Vinatieri began his pro career with the Amsterdam Admirals of the World League of American Football.  The New England Patriots signed him after and in 1996, he was officially a National Football League player.

New England was a team on the rise and if we are to agree that New England has been the best team in the last 20 years, it was Vinatieri’s kick in the snow that began the dynasty.  Against the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs, Vinatieri booted a 45 Yard Field Goal in a blizzard to send the game in Overtime, which he would win for them with a 23 Yard FG.  The Patriots would then beat the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, with Vinatieri again kicking the winning Field Goal, this time from 48 Yards out.  He would go to two Pro Bowls and earn two First Team All-Pro Selections as a Patriot, and would also win two more Super Bowls.

Vinatieri signed with the Indianapolis Colts in 2006 and he would win his fourth Super Bowl in his debut season in the Hoosier State.  He played for Indianapolis until 2019, and left the game as the all-time leader in Points (2,673) and Field Goals (599), and if any kicker has a shot at first ballot induction, it is Vinatieri.